- Utilitarianism fits into the category of ‘Normative‛ ethical theories. Normative ethical theories are those which attempt to distinguish and identify ‘right‛ actions from ‘wrong‛ actions. They attempt to answer ‘What makes an action right or wrong?‛.
- Utilitarianism is a Consequentialist or 'Teleological' theory of ethics – as ‘what makes an action right or wrong‛ are the consequences of the action and not the motives behind the action.
- Utilitarianism is founded on the principle of utility, otherwise known as the ‘greatest happiness‛ principle. The Greatest Happiness Principle = that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness and wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. (the greatest happiness of the greatest number)
- Utilitarianism is rooted in the Hedonic Principle: Pleasure or Happiness is the only thing worth pursuing, so, we should judge consequences according to the happiness of pleasure they produce.
- Utilitarian theory has developed into two (main) types: ‘Act‛ and ‘Rule‛. Act Utilitarianism evaluates each act individually, whereas, Rule Utilitarianism develops ‘Moral Rules‛ that ‘ought‛ to be followed when assessing the moral worth of actions.
- Jeremy Bentham developed a way of calculating the amount of a happiness that an action or decision would produce. He called this a ‘Hedonic Calculus‛. (Act Utilitarianism)
- J. S. Mill is often considered to have developed, or ‘improved‛ Bentham‛s theory by introducing ‘qualities‛ to pleasures rather than focussing on 'quantities‛. J. S. Mill developed a way of establishing Rules for making moral judgements. Based on his idea of ‘Higher‛ and ‘Lower‛ pleasures, Mill claims that ‘Competent Judges‛ would naturally be able to identify the morally best possible action to take.
- Rules could be established by testing their ‘universal‛ consequences. i.e. If everyone did this, then would the outcome be good according the ‘principle of Utility‛ or ‘Greatest Happiness‛?
- Utilitarianism is often criticised due to its:
- Hedonistic foundations
- Dedication to consequences instead of motives
- Expectations of people to judge every possibility
- Emphasis on the majority over the minority